Microsoft's plan for your TV

Microsoft is plotting to make the Xbox console the pivotal device in living rooms. We meet the guy with the plan.

In a few years, you'll be able to interact with your television like you've never been able to before, says Marc Whitten, general manager of Xbox Live, Microsoft's online multiplayer and content service for its Xbox 360 console.

And he expects Xbox Live service to be at the forefront of that future.

In an exclusive interview, Whitten spoke extensively about social networking on Xbox Live, Arcade games and the future of digital distribution.

"It has always been our ambition to create this community of people playing together and having these great experiences," he says. "We have 20 million people on the Xbox Live service, and 6 million people that return a day, and we saw this future that was possible, and what's cool now is that I think we're in that future. "

Whitten says adding Facebook and Twitter functionality to Xbox Live, announced at the E3 convention in Los Angeles this month, was a natural progression of the service.

"Live is the largest social network in the living room and when we marry that with Facebook, it takes it to the next level, and starts to expand those social aspects well beyond gaming." (Last year Microsoft, owner of Xbox, paid US$240 million for a 1.6 per cent stake in Facebook.)

"Part of where we went last year with NXE (a new dashboard for Xbox) was about creating a system where we could add functionality and features at a much faster rate than before.

"This is the first wave of innovation on top of that. This has been part of our plans for some time, and how we take what has been successful with games, and take it to new forms of entertainment."

Asked if the new social networking features would attract non-gamers to Live, Whitten says, "I hope so. I have two goals with Live. First, I want everyone in the house to fight over the Xbox, and secondly, I want Xbox to be input No 1 on the TV.

"I want this to be the centre of entertainment in the home, where you can do things that you've never been able to do before, because connected together can [result in] a truly magical experience.

"I think our core gamers are going to love that, but yeah, I believe it will be something that a new audience will find appealing."

For example, Live's Movie on Demand service means 1080p high- definition movies can be streamed to an Xbox 360 console instead of relying on a download. New Zealand is one of several countries that will get the service later this year, and although Microsoft's own press material recommends a connection speed of 8 Mbps for instant viewing at 1080p and 5.1 surround sound, the service takes into account varying broadband speeds and uses multibit streaming to adjust image quality to suit the user's connection.

"The beauty is that everything starts instantly. In the old video market place you had to download the movie," says Whitten. "The beauty of broadband is that penetration is going up and speeds are going up, and it is a march of technology that will get richer and richer.

"All of the HD content will be the best quality that you can get on your television . . . which is a huge rule changer."

Still, Whitten doesn't believe digital content will threaten Blu-ray or DVD.

"I believe very strongly in the future of digital distribution, and the future of these digital experiences, but I don't think it is as much competition as a lot of people (say). I think of it as: how do we create a lot of experiences that people have never had before.

"Take for example the Live Party mode (where up to eight people can watch the same movie, anywhere in the world simultaneously). It's only something that you can get in the digital world."

Whitten is also clear on his focus: "I want to make it easier for everyone to have social experiences that are magical in the living room. Live is much more about how to bring a living room alive and real friends together, whether in person or not.

"We've had the TV for 50 years but we've always been blocked out from the social aspect. I just don't think people expect enough out of the entertainment in the living room. It should be simple to do these things."

In five years, says Whitten, "someone will have solved a way to get the best content, to find your friends, have these amazing experiences, where everyone watching Lost can participate actively, and not just watch impassively.

"We'll look back on this world of passive entertainment on TV, and wonder why was it always so hard to do all these things that should have been so natural? At their core, people are very social and I think someone will do that in five years and I believe that Live is at the pole position to be that company."

Whitten is also focused on providing the best gaming experience with Live, an important aspect of the service.

"There has always been great quality on Arcade, but now we think that the range and palette of things is increasing. We'll still see things like Geometry Wars, which is sort of simple, but also see beautiful things like Shadow Complex" (a side- scrolling shooter game coming from Epic Games and Chair Entertainment).

A few days before E3 kicked off, Microsoft announced that the classic Nintendo 64 shooter game, Perfect Dark, was headed to Xbox Live Arcade, and while Whitten wasn't willing to spill too many beans on the modern reimagining of heroine Joanna Dark, he said, "The team is working on it, it's up and running, and it's already fun . . . it's going to be a great classic".

In August, Live will launch its Retail Games on Demand, at prices that will match retail. Thirty games will be offered, then a new game added weekly, and you can use a credit card as well as Microsoft points.

- © Fairfax NZ News